Was The ATF Funneling Guns to the Sinaloa Cartel?

TTAG started the week with a post reporting that Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s silence on the ATF Gunwalker scandal—in which agents of the United States government let smugglers transport some 3000 guns into the hands of vicious Mexican drug thugs—was down to the fact that his administration was in bed with the Sinaloa drug cartel. And that the U.S. DEA was also giving the Sinaloas a pass. As predicted, Sinaloa member Ismael Zambada has filed a brief in federal court fingering the feds for their involvement in his gang’s activities. [Click here for the pdf] And here’s the kicker . . .

It also asserts that Zambada was working for the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Since January 2004. There is plenty of evidence that this could be the case; that the Mexican and American governments were playing favorites amongst the cartels. Check this report from elimparcial.com:

The Sinaloa cartel supremacy stems from the fact that they no longer fight against the Beltran Leyva organization who has been severely beaten and diminished by the Mexican authorities, and the division of the Gulf and its former partners, Los Zetas, who are engaged in a war to the death, said the agent.

Also, the Tijuana cartel has suffered heavy blows from the authorities, and La Familia Michoacana has not recovered from the death in a police action of one of its top leaders, Nazario Moreno González, El Chayo.

If the U.S. was in cahoots with Mexico aiding and abetting the Sinaloas, this connection to U.S. Law Enforcement might shed some light on Project Gunwalker and Operation Fast and Furious.

I have long maintained that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ explanation for Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious has a big old hole in the middle. The “let the small fish go to catch the big fish” rationale for the authorized smuggling just doesn’t make any sense.

The ATF never made a single move to arrest anyone on the other side of the border, long after the ATF-enabled guns crossed into Mexico. How could they, given that the ATF was keeping the program secret from the Mexican authorities, and they have no jurisdiction south of the border? So why’d they let the guns walk?

The tin hat theory: the ATF let the guns walk so they could inflate the numbers of guns confiscated by the Mexicans coming from America so the Agency could hit up Uncle Sugar for more money to fight gun smuggling to Mexico. That’s . . . insane. If only because the ATF could have simply inflated the numbers out of thin air, as they did when Project Gunrrunner first came under fire.

Which leaves us with what? Recently, I’ve suggested simple corruption. The ATF agents let the guns go to line their pockets. A report on fox43tv.com today, detailing charges against an ATF agent accused of doctoring paperwork and selling guns (and cigarettes), gives some credence to that suggestion. But try this on for size . . .

Let’s say the U.S. government and the Mexican government had decided to turn a blind eye to the Sinaloa cartel. Let’s say they knew guns were headed to the Sinaloas from the U.S. Would they stop them?

On the hang on a moment side of that thought, the smuggled guns have turned up at crime scenes in many places throughout Mexico and other countries. And there’s no evidence that the ATF-enabled smugglers worked for the Sinaloa cartel.

Ah but who DID they work for? We have not heard word one about who bought the ATF-enabled guns in Mexico. That would be a particularly interesting piece of the puzzle, would it not Senator Grassely?

As I said, the Gunwalker scandal could open up a much, much larger can of worms. And the guys who are going to blow it wide open are the bad guys that the feds thought they’d bought and paid for. Meanwhile, I wonder who’s protecting Zambada? That young man has made a LOT of enemies.

May biggest payoff bribe get $ or not. Guess who pays, or who get money here.
Whores, politicians and lawyers all get the money no matter what.
What is difference between criminal and politician. Politician gets cash.
Narcos give lots of money out to friendly politicians. When all else fails, follow
the money trail.

I’m not sure about the thugs’ viscosity. If the river of ATF-enabled guns into Mexico had been more viscous, it might have resulted in fewer deaths down there as the vicious thugs would have been less well armed. Heh.

“Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s silence on the ATF Gunwalker scandal—in which agents of the United States government let smugglers transport some 3000 guns into the hands of viscous (sic) Mexican drug thugs—was down to the fact that his administration was in bed with the Sinaloa drug cartel.”

Viscous: (adjective) Having relatively high resistance to flow; sticky.

Did the Mexican drug thugs get “viscous” by being in bed with Calderon? ;^)

I think the Sinaloas are going to win the Championship of the Mexican League, so I was wondering: does anyone know where I can buy Sinaloa gear, like logo hats and t-shirts, or maybe some decorative pillows? I’m throwing a kegger for the ATF and I’d like to give out some nice party favors. Hey, it’s hard to shop for the ATF, y’know. They already have the alcohol, tobacco, firearms and noisemakers.

this article must be the latest spin from Obama. Holder et al.
anyone who has followed this since December knows that the article is bravo sierra and not-so-cleverly tosses in a few red herrings and a convenient straw man or two. you will receive a warm pat on the head from Obama.

I find very strange that when one of the two Pulitzer prize awardees that were credited with both the uncovering of this scandal and the resignation of BHO publishes a comment to your article, you don’t post it. I don’t get it.

I believe that you will discover that your “Tin Hat” theory is going to turn out to be somewhat more than just a theory. The ATF may have been only looking for more money, but the folks in the DoJ were looking to gut the Second Amendment by giving credence to the lie that our right to keep and bear arms is an evil force that has been enabling the massacre of thousand of poor Mexicans.

You still fear to put Mr. Vanderboegh’s reply – that speaks volumes about your integrity, id est, that you can be bought by the favor of the PTB. How pitiful.
You would have loved the old Soviet Union; Pravda was always looking for a few writers.

Dude, I didn’t remove Mike V’s comment. As far as I can tell it was never in our system. Here it is:

“Was The ATF Funneling Guns to the Sinaloa Cartel?”

Specifically? No. As a matter of fact, the “tin hat” is your own and inconsistent with evidence in documents and statements of agents elicited so far. As more and more folks come forward under oath, Robert, and we see more and more documents, we will find that ATF was simply doing what they were ordered to do from above.

“The tin hat theory: the ATF let the guns walk so they could inflate the numbers of guns confiscated by the Mexicans coming from America so the Agency could hit up Uncle Sugar for more money to fight gun smuggling to Mexico.”

Yes, well, regarding “tin hats.” The agents are on record as having been told by their superiors early on that what they were doing was to “boost the numbers” for that very purpose, and looking at it from an ATF perspective that is exactly what the White House intended, but it hardly covered the entire purpose of the exercise. It was not enough to merely pimp up the paper statistics, for those were already under fire as exaggerated. What they needed was stacks of Mexican bodies lying next to weapons which came, not from Central American wars of the 80s, or from crooked Mexican army officers, but from American gun shows and gun stores.

The ATF was a tool of the much larger conspiracy by the Obama administration to subvert the Second Amendment by creating a crisis justification for more restrictive laws AND more power and money for the ATF to enforce them. If that is “tin hat” then I’ll be wearing one to the hearings.

But it wasn’t the ATF’s bright idea. To argue otherwise is to exculpate the higher ups who planned this.